Self-study
Critic: Many popular psychological theories are poor theories in that they are inelegant and do not help to dispel the mystery that surrounds our psyche. ████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ █████ ████████ ████████████████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ██████████ ███████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The critic believes that it doesn’t really matter that some popular psychological theories are inelegant and don’t demystify the mind. To support this, the critic explains that these popular theories tend to give better results in therapy than the more elegant, more explanatory theories. This indicates that the popular theories have practical merit, thus supporting the critic’s conclusion that their inelegance isn’t important.
Identify Argument Part
The statement about relative therapeutic success is used to support the conclusion that the inelegance of some popular theories is not especially important. In other words, this statement helps to rebut a criticism of some popular theories.
14.
The statement about the relative ███████████ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ █████████████ ████████ █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████
a
It is used ██ ████████ ████████ ███████ █████ █████████
Like (C) and (E), the argument doesn’t do this. The critic never attempts to disprove the claims made against the popular theories. Instead, the argument is about focusing on a different aspect: practicality rather than scientific merit.
b
It is used ██ ████████ ████ ██████████████ ███████ █████ █████████
This is a good description of the role played by the claim about relative therapeutic success. The critic uses this claim as evidence that the criticism isn’t important, and that the considerations against the popular theories should be overridden by their therapeutic value.
c
It is used ██ ███████ ████ ███████ █████████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██████████ ████████████ ████ ███ █████ ███████
Like (A) and (E), no part of the argument does this; the critic never disputes that the popular theories are scientifically weaker. Instead, the argument redirects the focus from scientific merit to practical merit.
d
It is used ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████████
There’s nothing in the argument about what the critic takes to be the most important aspect of scientific theories, especially not in an absolute sense among all possible aspects. Nothing in the argument tells us this.
e
It is used ██ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ████████ ███ ███ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ███████████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ███ ██ ████████
Like (A) and (C), this isn’t something that the argument suggests. The critic never tries to debate the popular theories’ lack of explanatory power.